The Canal House

Herengracht 386, Amsterdam (NL)

client

Het Grachtenhuis

location

Herengracht 386, Amsterdam (NL)

completion

2011

surface

380 m2

status

permanent

The Canal House tells the story of the ring of canals in Amsterdam. It illustrates why the area of the ring of canals is so unique, and why it is still so alive after 400 years. Although it is the most important tourist attraction in The Netherlands, with some 3 million visitors a year, its story has not been told before in such a way. The granting of the UNESCO world heritage status to the area in August 2010 makes the story even more relevant. The seventeenth-century ring of canals is an international icon of architecture and city planning.

A sequence of five rooms on the first floor takes the visitor on a journey through time. The story starts in 1597, and explains the circumstances which forced the city of Amsterdam to expand so significantly. This is followed by a story about the development of the plans: who were the ones responsible for the uniquely planned extension? Subsequently the visitor sees how the ring of canals was built. The fourth room will allow the visitor a glimpse of living in a canal house. A miniature canal house shows how people lived in canal houses through the centuries. By using ‘Pepper’s ghost’ technique the rooms seem to be inhabited by real people. In the last room an enormous model of the ring of canals area is central. Wall panels, which refer to the decorative paintings by Jurriaan Andriessen (1742-1819) on the main floor, bring the canals to life. Here the visitor will truly travel through time, from when the area had just been built to the most recent Gay Pride.

After the reopening in 2012 downstairs the visitors prepare themselves for a stroll around the real canals outside through the interactive ‘canal travel agent’. They can also enjoy some wonderful historically decorated rooms where they can listen to stories about famous residents of the Canal House.